1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems and methods for providing and managing health care data, and, more particularly, for providing information to health care workers, receiving data regarding occupational safety, and interacting with a remote agency.
2. Description of Related Art
Health information systems have been the subject of considerable development efforts. Increasing demands placed by regulatory agencies and the organizations that provide health care for a patient require extensive information dissemination, record-keeping, and report generation, time-intensive but non-revenue-generating activities.
In particular, occupational incidents such as exposures to blood and other bodily fluids through needle sticks or splashes/splatters are required to be reported to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA); however, it is estimated that nine out of ten are not (J. Jagger and M. Balon, Adv. Expos. Prevention 1, 1-8, 1995). Reasons for such underreporting include a lack of information about reportable incidents, a fear of the consequences or reporting, embarrassment over the incident, and time required to complete a report.
The importance of providing and collecting timely and accurate information is obvious. Not only will the healthcare worker receive prompt and appropriate treatment; he/she will also have better information regarding the incident and a clearly defined course of followup. It is known that an important technique in preventing such accidents is tracking and analyzing the causes and circumstances surrounding the exposure.
At present, however, there is no known system that integrates information providing and data collecting functions for occupational safety breaches and for furnishing training information on new technologies, devices, and procedures. Further, there is no known interrelated system that links multiple locations within a healthcare site with a regulatory agency for receiving up-to-date training information and to transmit exposure incident data.
Among related art are the medical collecting apparatus of Yasaka et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 3,970,996) and Haessler et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,130,881) for receiving and storing data related to individual patients.
The surveillance system of Giguere et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,347,568) tracks employee work locations and the past or present location of potentially hazardous substances. Battaglia (U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,037) discloses a portable unit for displaying sequentially standard rescue steps in an emergency.
The distributed data processing network of Chaco (U.S. Pat. No. 5,291,399) is disclosed as usable in a hospital setting. McAndrew et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,517,405) describe an expert system for managing health care. The kiosk taught by Mitcham (U.S. Pat. No. 5,537,315) collects user data and issues insurance. Altman et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,572,421) disclose a device into which data are to be entered by a patient in response to a questionnaire. The system described by McIlroy et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,583,758) receives patient data and assists in the clinical decision process and health care management. Sloane (U.S. Pat. No. 5,619,991) teaches a system for medical diagnosis and/or treatment via a data communications network. The medical workstation described by Tsujii (U.S. Pat. No. 5,675,744) permits sharing data among facilities.